Washington. Tropical Storm Ernesto turned away from Bermuda and headed northeast in the Atlantic on Sunday, but it still caused strong waves along the U.S. East Coast, generating rip currents associated with at least one death and prompting many rescues.
The National Weather Service issued a coastal flood advisory and warned of a high risk of rip currents along the Atlantic coast through Monday night, adding that they “can sweep even the best swimmers away from shore and into deeper water.”
A warning extended from Florida to the Boston area and parts of Maine.
During high-risk periods, rip currents become more likely and potentially more frequent, posing a danger to all levels of swimmers, not just the inexperienced, said meteorologist Mike Lee in Mount Holly, New Jersey.
“It’s going to be very dangerous to be in the water today,” he said.
In Manasquan Inlet, New Jersey, authorities reported that a fisherman was swept off the north jetty on Saturday but was quickly rescued by lifeguards. The man suffered knee and back injuries and a possible concussion and was taken to a hospital, lifeguard chief Doug Anderson told NJ Advance Media, and lifeguards rescued at least five other people.
In Ventnor, to the south, Senior Lieutenant Meghan Holland said eight people had been rescued.
Forecasters, citing local emergency management, said a 41-year-old man drowned Saturday in a rip current in Surf City, North Carolina.
Two men drowned in separate incidents in the town of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, on Friday, but it was unclear whether rip currents were involved, The Island Packet newspaper in Hilton Head reported, citing a spokesman for lifeguard services. Heavy surf contributed to an unoccupied beach house along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore along North Carolina’s Outer Banks island chain collapsing into the ocean waters Friday night.
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– 2024-08-26 21:15:17
